All posts tagged recovery

The CEO of discount retailer Family Dollar Stores had some strong words on the economic state of America’s low-income consumers yesterday. In a conference call discussing fiscal third-quarter results, Howard Levine cited a grab-bag of economic woes facing the company’s core customers.

Via a CapitalIQ transcript of the call:

“Our observations are it’s still pretty tough out there. The low-end consumer has not benefited in this recovery at all, in fact, I think have slipped further back. Unemployment trends remain high. The government cutbacks continue. There’s quite a bit of health care uncertainty. Coming from this unbelievably cold winter, heating prices, heating oil and gas prices are moving upward. So there is — it’s a tough playing field out there.”

And it’s looking worse in big cities than in small towns. More on this after the jump… Read More »

Demand for new housing, particularly on higher ground, is pushing up property prices in Japan’s rugged Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures, in another sign that the regions that were hardest-hit by the March 11, 2011 disaster are gradually recovering.

Evacuees and people who were displaced are moving into housing upland, creating fresh demand, some analysts say. They are also moving away from the coast and away from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s stricken Daiichi nuclear power plants in Fukushima.

Sales of new single-family houses in September 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 389,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This is 5.7 percent above the revised August rate of 368,000 and is 27.1 percent above the September 2011 estimate of 306,000.

We have a few more details from day two of the Fedex investor meeting, regarding the company’s big cost cutting plan.

FedEx announced a $1.7bn profit improvement plan on the first day of the meeting yesterday, and by profit improvement, the company meant cost cutting: “We are revamping the Express cost structure through a combination of cost reductions, efficiency improvements and service repositioning,” CEO Fred Smith Said.

And the bulk of those savings are based on what the seems to be a corporate assumption that business will not be as rosy as it once was, for the foreseeable future, the WSJ’s Bob Sechler reported (emphasis ours):

“He said portions of the $1.7 billion will come out of FedEx’s service division, as well as overall corporate overhead, but the U.S. express network is targeted for the bulk of it. The company stressed that service won’t suffer amid the moves because they are mainly aimed at adjusting FedEx’s network to current and anticipated demand.”

Now, from day two, Sechler sends us this dispatch on the message coming from the head of the company’s express unit:

Dave Bronczek, CEO of FedEx’s express division, says about 75% of the benefit his unit’s three-year, nearly $1.6B profit improvement plan will occur within the next two years. He also notes that the plan isn’t contingent on much help from the economy. “It’s not based on anticipation of a major rebound in the global economy,” either this year or next, he said.

We’ll bring some more details on the meeting as the day goes on. Read More »